Urblues wrote:The only thing holding me back from a tiger is the resale value.

Will I be able to get close to what I payed for it?

On a Phiga ... that's debatable, just because his prices have varied over the years and there are spotty reviews on the early guitars. No experience with the recent ones. On some of the other higher end builders -- Moriarty, Resurrection, etc. -- it's more likely you can recoup a lot of your cost. Most of those guys take months -- more than a year is common for Resurrection -- to build a guitar, and there's usually someone out there who wants it NOW and will be willing to pay, assuming you keep the guitar in good shape. You're lucky you're righthanded, is all I can say.

Urblues wrote:I am down to a choice of an early 70's ES - 335 or a Tiger Replica Don't know?

Those are pretty different choices. A Tiger replica is pretty much a "one trick pony" (I have one). If all you want to do with the guitar is play 80's style Jerry, it's a great choice. I have other guitars though.

A Gibson ES-335 is a great guitar that can play a lot of different stuff. You can play Bob stuff and get a decent early 70's Jerry tone with it. Plus non Dead stuff of course. A Tiger is not as versitile.

Just kidding. Boy, these are hard decisions. A 335 is so different from all the other choices. And yet, they are all such tasty options. At the end of the day, though, you have to ask yourself what sound do you hear in your head? It should be pretty easy to determine whether a Tiger or a 335 will get closer.

That's why I now play the Scott Walker guitar live, and have my Tiger available for what I have in it. It is, as suggested, pretty much a one-trick pony. It's a good trick ... but that's all it does sonically, and also it's a strong visual statement that says Grateful Dead.

On my Walker, I put the Super 2 coil cut in the middle, a Lollar Imperial humbucker in the bridge, a Duncan Lil '59 humbucker in the neck -- all of them are splittable. I have that wired to a 3-way pickup selector, plus a second switch that Brad Sarno came up with the idea for when I was pestering about what I wanted to accomplish with this guitar. That puts the guitar's pickup switching into three distinct modes:

I also had Scott put in individual tones and volumes for each pickup so I can set the levels as you would on a Les Paul, and still get the benefit of the master volume control and effects loop. The downside of that setup is it's a slightly lower output overall on the guitar having two volume controls in series, although the unity gain buffer mitigates the tone loss. And it also has Scott's little blaster which is a nice, switchable boost. But you can't get any more versatile than that. I can get a nice in-between Strat quack, a total 80s Weir sound, use the 3-way to switch between clean neck and screaming bridge overdrive a la Jimmy Page ... or flip the switch and be Jerry.

Last edited by playingdead on Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:23 pm, edited 3 times in total.

So back to the issues with phiga, are they neck issues, body issues, electronics because if it is something that can be fixed I will go with them

I am down to a choice of an early 70's ES - 335 or a Tiger Replica Don't know?

Hard to hear I am sure but with regards to the Phiga issues - the main issue is perception. There may be nothing wrong with the product he has been putting out for the last few years - but if resale is important to you - reality doesn't matter....perception does.

Having gone through the thread again - it doesn't seem like the Tiger replica is your best bet IMHO (too many unanswered concerns about the investment). Honestly I think you should pick up a well cared for Ibanez Musician - an MC-400 or MC-500. It is within your price range, you will likely be able to sell it for what you pay and there are a lot of tonal possibilities. (Just don't mod it!! I desperately want to buy one some day!). I have a MC-300 with some cosmetic issues and a Tiger replica a paid a lot of money for and I still pick up that MC-300 all the time! It is an awesome guitar!

My first good guitar was an early 70's Gibson ES335 and I played tons of Jerry on it. Mostly gravitated to an early 70's tone. This was during the 80's. Played it through a Fender Twin combo. I thought it got a great Fillmore East 1971 tone.

Urblues wrote:Ok I am wondering now if i can get different tones with different amp settings, or if I should just stick to jerry.

I have an active strat already and another with two splittable humbuckers. what should I do

It depends on what you really want. If you're not sure what sound you're looking for, you shouldn't do anything except keep playing and think about what kind of sound you're looking for that you can't get with your current equipment. Maybe what you really need is to get a better amp?

Urblues wrote:I have the best amp in the world 500$ for an ORIGINAL '65 super reverb

My problem is variety. I have the perfect strat tone, I just need something else.

Get a nice dual humbucker guitar (Les Paul, SG, 335, etc.). Depends on how much you're willing to spend. Vintage Gibsons are really nice (and really expensive). Check out some YouTube vids of Freddy King playing a 335 (or is it a 345?). That's some nice blues tone.

Vic, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop posting pics of your Walker. It puts me in the very uncomfortable position of deeply coveting another man's darling!

In all seriousness, I still think that is one of the most appealing guitars, both visually and tonally, I've ever seen. Truly stunning. Why settle for a one trick pony when you can have so many tonal possibilities in one guitar? If I had the chops to justify it (and were willing/able to drop that kind of coin), Scott Walker is the first luthier I'd talk to. A similar approach in a custom build by Matt Moriarty would be a very close second.